I'm not kissing any boy that is passive — Their indecision is painfully unattractive — Past mistakes are just new information, these days I've got expectations
𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖ Percy Jackson Jason Grace x Fem. Reader
ೃ༄* Part 2 of We Wanna Talk About Sex But Were Not Allowed -> Read part one HERE!
Synopsis: Percy still lingered in your mind months after the breakup. After much convincing from your friends, you find yourself in an unfamiliar apartment for a party, and a conversation with a certain blonde leaves you with more hope for the future than you've had in months.
Cw: not proofread, college au, reader stands on her business as she should, Percy is downright horrible at relationships, Piper didn't date Jason in this for the plot line, Jason having bad timing when it comes to asking ppl out but again I swear it's for the plot, mentions of alcohol & frat parties
A/N: yes, yes I know this took me wayyyy too long to write (over 2 years or something, yikes), but I finally finished it!!! I might write a part 3 if I feel like it, but I'm not sure yet. I hope all you lovies enjoy the fic! <3
Laughing filled the bedroom of your new condo, the sound filtering out into the streets of New Rome from the cracked window.
Makeup bags were laid out on your vanity—unorganized, setting powder askew across the dark wood, Rare Beauty blushes and bronzers uncapped—, jeans and t-shirts rumpled on the floor as dresses were put on, the scent of hair spray still lingering in the air.
You, however, were in the attached bathroom to your bedroom—not hiding, definitely not (spoiler alert: you were, but who's asking?). The girls, that being Piper and Hazel, were the ones in your bedroom. You could hear the faint sound of Girls Just Want to Have Fun playing from the room, making you smile despite your nerves.
Piper and Hazel had finally convinced you to go out with them. There was some party happening downtown; Piper had been invited by some frat guy you can't bother remembering the name of and had extended the invitation to the two of you.
A frat party that was happening, likely in a dingy apartment building, should really be your only source of anxiety.
You hadn't gone out to a party—Gods forbid a date—since that night. That night that you sent Percy out, you waited for him once you calmed down (which, in Piper's words, you shouldn't have had to do), only to have him not return, prompting your own exit the following morning.
Wiping your cheeks of the tears that you couldn't stop from coming, you checked the time on the oven clock again. 2:16am.
Gods, you were probably pathetic for crying over Percy not coming back to—what do you even call it, his condo, your condo?—after you were the one who told him to leave.
You left the warm glow of the kitchen and moved to the dark living room, sitting down on the sofa. You picked at your nails, counting your breaths in a futile attempt to calm down.
He always reminded you not to pick your nails; "Hey, pretty girl, let's not ruin those nails of yours, yeah? We can paint our nails together, call it a night in date or something,"
Yeah, okay, maybe you were acting a bit pathetic.
Taking a deep breath, ignoring the ball forming in your throat and the tears forming on your waterline again, you sat up after what felt like hours and made your way to the bedroom. Glancing at the oven once again, it read 6:58am. Guess it had been hours.
Walking back into the bedroom, you carefully avoided the shattered glass you hadn't bothered to pick up—Percy can do that when, or if he ever comes back. Grabbing the suitcase that was shoved to the back of the closet, you started shoving items in.
You created a mental checklist of necessary items to take: toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, makeup, skincare, two sets of clothes, one pajama set, shoes. You had to pause in your movements so as not to grab—natural instinct you would have to unlearn, you supposed—the jellyfish stuffed animal Percy had given you when the two of you had a date at the aquarium.
Closing your suitcase with a sharp thud, you looked out the window at the rising sun. You let out a bitter laugh before you could stop yourself. Your mind went down that road, the dirty and unkept road that you tried never to go down too far, but with Percy's absence, it was hard not to.
He was probably at Annabeth's condo, sitting at those barstools he helped her pick out, a vanilla Yankee Candle lit somewhere in the background, looking at her with those soft, sea blue eyes that used to be reserved only for you—
You slipped on your sandals that resided by the front door, suitcase in your hand, phone in the other. Stepping out of the door into the dimly lit concrete hallway with an elevator that only worked one day a week.
Locking the door with your keys, you silently removed the condo keys from your wristlet keychain, along with the skateboard keychain Percy had gifted you not to long ago; it was bought in New York, when he went there to visit Sally.
"Thought it could remind you of me whenever I'm not there, y'know?"
You had laughed at the time, knowing that the keychain would more likely remind you of the falls Percy took on his skateboard rather than his sweet declaration when he gifted it to you.
Now, watching as it dangled in your hand, all you could see were empty promises and lies laid on top of each other.
You placed the key and the keychain onto the doormat. You'll text him at some point to arrange a time to come get the rest of your stuff, but you have what you need for a couple days away.
As you began walking down the concrete hallway, the stairway door opened, the hinges creaking loudly with the movement. Pressing your lips into a thin line, you knew that the person was either Percy coming back or one of your neighbors who you were about 90 percent sure was a drug dealer.
And, for the first time, you really, really, hoped it was your neighbor.
Zues—really, you should be saying Aphrodite—must really hate you, because as you glanced up to the stairway door, you saw the mess of dark hair and tan skin.
You dropped your gaze as fast as you had lifted it but continued down your path to the same door that Percy had just exited. You assumed that he saw you, as the sound of his converse hitting the floor stopped suddenly.
"Hey—where are you going, baby?"
Your eye twitched slightly, but your steps didn't falter. You kept your lips pressed into a thin line, not responding. Walking past Percy, he didn't utter a word, but you could feel his gaze follow you as you reached the door he had just come out of. As you grabbed onto the handle to pull it open, mind already thinking of the comfort that Piper's dorm room would bring once you got there, Percy spoke up again, this time with more urgency in his tone.
"C'mon, wait a second, please?" Percy said, now moving to be closer to the door, grabbing the same handle you were holding to keep the door closed.
"There is nothing to talk about, Percy," You sighed, adjusting the strap of your purse as your other hand was busy holding the suitcase. Your movements made his eyes wander down to your suitcase, then back up to your purse.
He made a small, wounded sound from the back of his throat. "Can I at least give you these?" He asked, holding out a bouquet of flowers that you hadn't noticed due to your inner turmoil. "I just—I wanna make sure that we're on better terms than we were earlier, even if you wanna get away for a bit," he said, gesturing with the flowers to your luggage.
"Percy." You said, slightly exasperated. He tilted his head at you, flowers still outstretched in your direction. "You do realize that this isn't going to be fixed with some flowers, right?" You asked, making no move to grab the flowers from his hand.
"You can't expect this relationship to go back to normal just because you gave me a half-hearted gift," you stated slowly, hand still on the doorhandle, but not pushing.
There was no way this man was serious right now.
"Then how do I make this better?" He asked, removing his hand from the door handle, gesturing to the space between the two of you.
You shook your head. "I don't know if you can, Percy."
He furrowed his eyebrows as he took in your words. "But—" He started before cutting himself off with a sign. "I don't even know why we're like this right now," He trailed off, looking past you into the length of the hallway.
"I mean—I buy you stuff, take you out on dates when I have the time, I like the reels you send me, buy you a coffee—"
You cut him off this time. "You do realize that none of that matters if you don't actually have feelings for your partner, yes?" You asked, laughing slightly in disbelief at his words.
"You buy me coffee, but can you tell me what my favorite coffee place is? Or what my favorite order is and how it's different in summer than in the winter?" Percy opened his mouth to reply, but you continued.
"And yeah, you know—I'll give you credit for buying me stuff, that is nice, but," You gestured to the flowers in his hands, "Have you ever taken the time to figure out what flowers I like, what ones I'm allergic to, what ones I think go good with how the kitchen is decorated?"
You answered for him. "No. No, you haven't done any of that, Percy. You buy me stuff and act like it makes up for the missed dates that had already been rescheduled so many times. You act like it makes up for all the times you cancel on me because you have plans with Annabeth—"
"Gods, you don't have to mention Annabeth when we're having this conversation," He muttered.
You blinked at him a few times. "You do realize that the whole conversation we had earlier was about Annabeth, right?" You asked, moving your hand away from the door handle so you could cross it over your body protectively.
"Yeah, and there was no point for her to be involved in a conversation about our relationship."
He said it with so much confidence in his tone that you had to shake your head in disbelief at him. "Percy, you do realize that you act like Annabeth's your girlfriend more than me?"
"No—no, I really don't. Because from where I am, it looks like my girlfriend is saying that she doesn't want me to have female friends and is insecure in a relationship when she has no reason to be." He replied, mirroring your position by crossing his own arms over his chest.
"Gods—Percy, I can't do this right now." You sighed, your hand going back to the door handle, this time opening it. "I'll be back in a few days for the rest of my stuff. I'll text you when I plan on coming to get it."
"Wait, baby, I didn't mean it like that—"
The metal door slammed shut behind you before he could get another word out.
The soft knocking on your bathroom door broke you out of your trance. "You okay in there?" Hazel asked from the other side.
You swallowed the lump in your throat. "Yeah—just, trying to get the straps on my dress to look right," you said, voice cracking slightly. Before Hazel could respond, the door opened suddenly, Piper standing in the center of the doorframe.
"Oh, my Gods!" Piper exclaimed as she waltzed into the bathroom. "You look drop-dead gorgeous, babe! I'm so glad you agreed to come to the party, I feel like its been forever since we've all gone to a party together."
Hazel leaned against the doorframe, watching the two of you as Piper helped adjust the straps on your dress. "I can help with your makeup when you're done, if you want," she said, voice directed at you.
You shot her a grateful smile from the mirror you were standing in front of. "That would be amazing, Hazel, thank you."
Soon enough, you found yourself sitting crisscrossed on your bed with Hazel sitting in front of you. She was gentle with her movements as she applied eyeshadow to your eyelids. "How are you feeling about tonight?" She asked, her fingers steady as she applied the brush to your skin.
You let out a small sigh. "I don't know—weird, I guess?" Hazel hummed for you to elaborate. "I just, haven't really gone out since I ended things with Percy. I know I shouldn't be letting him get to me like this, but it feels weird to do things that I got so used to him being there for," you rambled, voice almost at a whisper, as if you were letting out a big secret.
Hazel hummed once again, although this time it was in affirmation. "Nothing wrong with remembering your past experiences, but don't let Percy have the upper hand in your own mind."
"I'm not saying you should get black out drunk and flirt with every guy you see, but if someone piques your interest, don't let Percy stop you from exploring."
Her hands touched your cheekbones lightly as she dabbed highlighter onto your face. "And if you don't want to explore with anyone, don't do it. Just don't let him make that decision for you, okay?"
The party was just like any other frat party you've been to. Music playing so loudly it was bound to have neighbors calling in complaints at any point, the smell of vapes, alcohol, and cheap perfume making the air almost suffocating, and bodies pressed up against each other, leaving no room for personal space.
The only room in the apartment that wasn't dark with flashing lights everywhere was the kitchen. The actual party was happening on the upper level of the apartment, so the lower level—where the kitchen was—was covered in a soft golden glow of lamps scattered around.
You laughed softly into the solo cup in your hands as you watched Piper drag Hazel down the stairs, both girls waving bye to you as they descended.
Once they were both out of sight, you dropped the cup onto the island counter and leaned up against the wood. It wasn't like you weren't glad you came—really, you were—but you did miss being in your bed, TV on with some stupid reality show playing as you did your skincare.
As you let out a slightly blissful sigh at the thought, someone came up to the opposite side of the island you were leaning against.
"Not a huge fan of these parties, I'm guessing?" You looked up at the voice and saw Jason.
You and Jason weren't friends, but also not enemies by any means. You would acknowledge each other in the few classes you shared last semester, share a smile when the professor attempted to make a joke, and even proofread each other's papers (his was slightly better than yours, but you're never going to admit that to him).
You laughed lightly at his words. "Yeah, you could say that." You tilted your head at him. "Didn't take you to be the kind of guy to come to frat parties," you said.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course," You quickly added, not wanting him to take your words the wrong way.
Jason smiled in response. "Honestly, I don't know how my friend Leo convinces me to come every time. It always is the same—I get bored of being in a room filled with drunk people, find a quiet place to wait, and then drive people home," He chucked.
You lifted your eyebrows. "Designated driver, huh?"
He nodded, moving to the fridge to grab a can of Sprite. "I'm usually fine with just drinking soda at these places. Can't say I appreciate them not having Canada Dry, though." Despite his words, he still cracked open the can and took a swing of the beverage.
"You like Canada Dry?" You asked, making a face that must have come across as offensive.
Jason made a face back at you. "Who doesn't like Canada Dry?" He asked back, taking another sip of Sprite.
You pointed at yourself while grabbing your red solo cup. "Uhm. Me. And I really don't think I've ever met someone who prefers Canada Dry over Sprite,"
Jason opened his mouth to respond, but a loud noise from downstairs cut him off. A yelling sound followed, quickly followed by the cheers of a large group of drunk college students.
Jason, shaking his head in a way that told you he knew exactly who was responsible for the loud noise, motioned for you to follow him. He made his way to the staircase that led to the third floor of the apartment. When you didn't move from your spot by the island, he looked over his shoulder, tilting his head at you. "You want to go somewhere more private?"
You took one look at the staircase going down—and then quickly grabbed your drink from where you set it back onto the counter and followed him up.
The chill air of New Rome contrasted with the warmth of the apartment inside, but it was nice. Jason had led the two of you to an accessible balcony in one of the hallways—who knew frat boy apartments could be cozy when they wanted to be.
Jason tilted his head at you as you took a seat next to him on the cold metal floor of the balcony. "It's nice, right?" He prompted, leaning more into the railing that went out into the downtown streets.
The two of you sat in comfortable silence—or as silent as it could be with the music from inside being a faint noise filling the air—for a few moments.
"I haven't seen you in a while," Jason suddenly said. "I mean—I haven't seen you at a party with Piper and Hazel, used to see you more with them."
You sighed. "You can blame the ex-boyfriend for that one," you said, laughing, though it came out solemn rather than humorous.
Jason hummed in response. "I'm sorry,"
"Don't be, wasn't your fault." You muttered, leaning back onto the cool metal fencing.
He turned to you suddenly. "How have you been doing? Since the breakup?—only if you're comfortable talking about that, of course. Just want to make sure you're okay," He hummed, eyes trailing over your face before settling onto your eyes.
"Yeah—yeah, no I'm fine talking about it. Honestly the only person I've really talked to about it has been Piper." You chuckled. "But, I'm doing okay, I guess."
After a few beats of silence, you continued to talk. "I just wish I was less affected by the whole thing, y'know? I still feel like the relationship has control over my life even though it ended months ago,"
Jason watched you for a moment while you stared out onto the street, watching a group of friends pass by the apartment.
"How do you think it still has control over you?" Jason asked after a moment of silence.
You pressed your lips together. "It's just in these normal moments, my brain just slips back into thinking I'm still in a relationship with him. I'll be making dinner, totally fine, and then I'll grab two plates, and I'll think, oh, I hope he comes back in time before his food gets cold. Or stupid things like that." Your voice got quieter as you finished speaking.
There were a whole lot more examples could give Jason—like how you'll see a book in a store window and think of how if Percy was there, you knew he would start talking about how Annabeth would want to read it, or how whenever you went to get ice cream you had to stop yourself from getting the waffle cone with sprinkles and cotton candy ice-cream because it reminded you to much of Percy.
Jason tilted his head at you again. "I don't think that's stupid at all." He stated, eyes leaving your face in favor of staring at his hands in his lap.
You laughed softly at him. "Jason. You don't have to say that to make me feel better,"
Jason laughed back at you, albeit even softer than you had laughed. "I'm not saying that to make you feel better. I'm saying that cause it's true. You lost a person you cared about; you still care about them in some ways, even if they did you wrong. There's nothing wrong with that." He paused for a moment before continuing.
"If anything, I think it shows me and everyone else what an amazing person you are." Jason finished with a small sigh.
The two of you fell back into silence as you considered his words. After a moment, you smiled at him, his eyes still trained on the street below. "Thank you," you said softly.
Jason replied by smiling back, eyes now locked with yours. You watched as he took a deep breath, shoulders rolling slightly as he breathed out.
"When you're ready, and if you're okay with it—I would love to take you on a date," he said, words slightly rushed compared to the slow pace he used earlier. "I know we were just talking about your ex, so it's probably not the best time to do this, but I don't know when I'll see you again, and I felt weird to dm you on Instagram to go on a date—"
You interrupted his ramble with a soft laugh. "I think I'll need some time, but yes, Jason—when I know I'm ready—I would love to go out on a date with you."
Jason blew out a breath. "Really?"
"Yes. Really." You replied, still smiling as you watched him process your words. He nodded to himself, smiling back at you, before his eyes turned back to the street again.
"Thank you." He said, repeating your words from moments ago.
With his words, you also turned back to the street, watching as a couple made their way down the bricked sidewalk, hand in hand. The girl was grinning ear to ear while the man laughed out a joke to her.
One day—in the near future, you thought hopefully—you would be comfortable enough to go with Jason and have a night of your own with him.
But, for now, the two of you were comfortable simply sitting close together on a metal balcony, with the faint echoes of Taylor Swift's Lover song playing from the apartment.
⊹ ࣪ ˖ ໒꒱ Title from Expectations by Oliva Rodrigo + No AI was used in the making of this fanfic!
